Unique $5,000 tops at Heritage

A total over $25 million was realized by Heritage?s four auctions at the September Long Beach Expo. Top price was $805,000 for an 1878 $5,000 Legal Tender Note.

The note, from the Edward and Joanne Dauer collection, is a specimen that was presented to the Chinese government, and is the only surviving example of this design, sale catalogers said.

Unlike most bank note specimens, which are typically one-sided or printed on card stock or other special paper, this piece is printed on both sides, on currency paper. Instead of a serial number, though, it has three stars in that space, it has punch holes by the Treasury signatures. A statement that it was a presentation piece is overprinted between the signatures.

Top U.S. coin lot was an 1879 Flowing Hair Stella graded Proof-66 Cameo by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. It brought $230,000.

?The ever-popular Stellas, from 1879 and 1880, were a pet project of the Hon. John Adam Kasson of Des Moines, and have become increasingly popular with collectors for both their design and historic appeal,? said Heritage President Greg Rohan.

Rohan praised the performance of high-level Registry coins, such as those from the Jim O?Neal collection of Indian half eagles and the No. 3 PCGS ?Mile High? Registry Set of Carson City Morgan dollars.

In the U.S. coin sale, an 1894 Morgan dollar graded MS-66 by Professional Coin Grading Service went for $92,000, and a 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar with repair on the obverse, graded XF Details by Numismatic Conservation Service, sold for $86,250.

A Panama-Pacific Expo commemorative gold $50, round, NGC MS-62, hit $74,750. Also selling at that price was a Kellogg and Humbert gold ingot recovered from the S.S. Central America shipwreck. Sale catalogers measure it as 52mm tall, 41mm wide and 30mm deep, and stamped on the top is the information 36.40 ounces, .825 fine.

The top lot in Heritage?s world coin sale was Lot 52182, a Russian 1836 Nicholas I 1-1/2 ruble in NGC MS-64, Bit-888, Uzd-4207, that realized $138,000.

The token and medal auction at Long Beach, which realized $598,946, was headed by an 1826 Erie Canal completion medal struck in gold that sold for $63,250.

Individually, Heritage?s Signature Auctions at Long Beach realized as follows: U.S. coins $11,311,996, U.S. paper money $10,486,434, ancient and world coins $3,210,026 and U.S. tokens and medals $598,946.

The auction firm expects that online final session auctions and post-auction buys will boost the overall total prices realized from its Long Beach sale activities to around $27 million.

Prices reported here include buyer fees, which can vary depending on bidding method.

This was Heritage?s 61st official auction at Long Beach. All lot descriptions, images and prices realized for more than 11,000 lots that Heritage offered in Long Beach are viewable online at www.HA.com.

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